Straw Hat

Straw Hat is the second novel from the pen of Sussex-based author John David Harris. You may have already read his novel Beyond the Castle Arch.

The novel tells the story of John and Susan Grant, a married couple who are comfortable in their middle years. Having had to leave their ill daughter at the children's war of St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, they make a decision to visit a local auction room, where they both fall in love with a painting and successfully bid on it.

The painting depicts a young boy who is fishing on the River Arun which is local to the city.

But there was something that they couldn't have known. A link with a dreadful event that occurred many, many decades previously.

When they take the picture back to their farmhouse it becomes increasingly obvious to them that something is dreadfully, horribly wrong.

That their apparently beautiful picture is serving as a portal to past problems and misfortunes that are somehow dragging their .lives into a hellish nightmare.

The story also deals with the concept of a strong and burning unrequited love and how people deal with this type of situation.

It's a moving and poignant story which is very well told and gripping in its own way.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.